Maneaters are veteran Ogres of many campaigns fought in far off lands. Travelling mercenaries beyond peer, they have spent decades accruing scars, tall tales, wealth, exotic wargear and skills before heading back to the Ogre Kingdoms. Maneaters have fought throughout the Old World and beyond and many races attempt to recruit such fighters into their armies, promising food, gold or whatever else the Ogres want in return for their services. It is the pay that matters, not the foe, although with some contracts Maneaters are awarded fallen enemies to eat, so in those cases the enemy may matter. Ogres will eat anything, but they have preferences.[1a]

Maneaters inherit the cultures of the lands they visit rather than spread their own. These mercenaries learn the fighting skills and adopt the style of dress appropriate to the lands in which they fight. For example, a Maneater in the Empire might wear breeches and an ostentatious feather with a brace of huge pistols across his chest. A Maneater campaigning in the jungles of the Southlands might go into battle as the Savage Orcs do, that is, wearing an undersized loincloth, a gut-plate and nothing else but smeary warpaint, although more civilised folk might not want to visualize that. Maneaters tend to operate in small groups, some of which have fought together for years. Despite their outlandish appearance, these tight-knit bands excel at breaking heads.[1a]

It's rare for any two Maneaters to fight or be equipped in exactly the same manner, and opponents find themselves fighting against a dizzying array of different weapons and combat techniques. The only real factors uniting the individualistic Maneaters are their monumentally inflated sense of self-worth and their capacity to smash aside lesser creatures without breaking a sweat. When they return to the Ogre Kingdoms, Maneaters take an opportunity to bore their tribe-mates with long fanciful war stories, some of which are even true. Although such tales are tiresome, an Ogre Tyrant is always happy if he can call on the services of one or two units of Maneaters to aid his tribe. They will be used to lead important attacks, or hold a vital part of the battle line. Maneaters are famously stubborn opponents and usually prefer to fight to their last breath rather than flee. After all, they have learned the hard way that if they run off in the course of a battle, they won't get paid![1a]